Daily Times

I know Professor Muhammad Jawwad as a prolific classical singer. He used to carry out regular practice sessions with his teacher Ustad Parvez Paras from a young age. He used to perform regularly in classical music nights of All Pakistan Music Conference Festivals and perform classical Raags in Radio Pakistan’s monthly classical music programme ‘Aahang-e-Khusrovi’. He also composes music. Music has been Jawwad’s passion and teaching Philosophy at the University of Punjab, his profession. He is Master in Philosophy from the University of Punjab. He has also obtained MPhil from the same university and is presently in the process of submitting his PhD dissertation in Philosophy. He is now Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department, University of Punjab in Grade 20. A third aspect of Jawwad’s personality is story writing in both Urdu and Punjabi languages. We shall talk about this aspect in our submission below.

Muhammad Jawwad’s main contribution is an Anthology of Punjabi short stories ‘Be-rang Tei Rang’ published in 2008 by Sanjh Publications, Lahore. Many senior writers such as Muhammad Mansha Yaad, Ghulam Hussain Sajid and Jameel Ahmad Paul offered their views on this effort. His short stories have also been published in Government College University (GCU)’s magazine RAVI and in PILAC’s magazine Trinjan. His story ‘Kilkil’ has been selected among the best stories from 1947 to 2008 by Pakistan Adab, Academy of Letters.

We shall discuss some of the stories of Muhammad Jawwad to discuss their themes and issues he has taken up in his anthology.

The story ‘Kilkil’ is one of Muhammad Jawwad’s best stories. Akram was a good person. He has all the ingredients of a sweet personality but he was an untidy person as well. His clothes used to remain scattered on the floor but the least he used to do was to wash his face in the morning. His wife was not a beauty but was a wide eyed lady. Akram and Parveen married out of love. They lived in a flat, cooked and lived happy but relatives on both sides never bothered to visit them. In such situations Akram tried to pacify her and started hoping and counting on as to who could on either side make a visit. When it came to his mother in law, his voice used to get raised. Parveen used to leave the room in anger. Akram used to work for a newspaper and Parveen, after cleaning and cooking used to remain idle. Her thoughts would invariably wander to her life with her parents. Her parents enjoyed all the amenities of life that a newly rich business family would enjoy. Her mother did not welcome guests but Parveen and her sister Faiqa used to entertain them if they visited their house. In college canteen, on one occasion, Parveen had interfered and resolved a dispute between Akram with his friend Arshad. That is when Akram and Parveen became close to each other.

Parveen used to remain idle most of the day after cooking in the mornings. She didn’t appreciate that there was no interference of any mother in law or sister in law in her life. Her thoughts invariably used to wander recalling old incidences. Once, she recalled the incidence of row between Akram and his friend Arshad and the moment her husband entered the house around five in the evening, she snapped at Akram that while Arshad was aggressive Akram was docile on that occasion. Akram complained that the moment he entered the house why did she start digging the dead out of their graves. He complained as to why she was remembering Arshad now after such a long time. She gave example of her father who would slap on the other man’s face in such situations. While listening he could not control himself and slapped Parveen. For a few minutes she was stunned and then her reaction was to hug her husband in admiration. Perhaps she was doing this kilkil (jittering) the whole week to arouse aggressive response in him on dire situations. On the other hand she deserved the slap on her face to make her thoughts straight and appreciate what she had in her marriage; a working husband who cared for her.

Khawere Kyun (don’t know why?):

This story seems a sequel to the above story. Here a mother in law is jealous of her son taking care of his wife and thinks that his son is unmanly because of this behaviour. He should have proved his manly self by beating her instead. The argument in favour is that women liberation organizations in the West should not take a man who lifts his hands on his woman as uncivil. After all, women spend lot of fortunate and hire men to beat them to arouse their sexual appetite.

In this story character of a person is studied psychologically. The character always raised the question about death and questioned would it matter if a person was alive or dead.

This is a unique story of a person who mixes up worldly love with Sufi love. Both get mixed up. Like a Sufi is bewildered with the worldly beauty of the beloved and merely the thought that this beloved shall also go to dust is appalling, similarly a worldly person also is caught in the love of his beloved and does not desire to think that one day his beloved shall bead too. Both shirk the idea that their beloveds are going to disappear ultimately.

Muhammad Mansha Yaad says in his essay titled ‘Soch Dei Lamme Rassey’ that Muhammad Jawwad tries to wind the long ropes of thought all the time. That is why his stories have all the ingredients of a good story; getting baffled on a unique happening, being over-sensitive about a slight show of hatred from the other end, feeling concerned for somebody getting deceived, creating a story or carrying out research to discover realities behind some happening, observing people and scenes deeply and above all looking at philosophical angles in his stories. Mansha wondered if Jawwad’s stories could be called metaphorical wonders as they entail flying high and taking dives of his thoughts or they can be termed as stories. Whatever name one could give them, they appeal to the reader!

Muhammad Jawwad’s heroes have the capacity to lure their beloved with small love-talk. So, a story takes birth within a story. His stories are mostly related to brain power or are psychological in nature. In one of his stories ‘Khirkian’ he portrays the aftermath of a girl who ran away and left the dwellers of whole of the neighborhood, sad. The windows that used to open to watch her activities open even now but there is a strange melancholy ubiquitous in the area.

Jawwad also likes his characters with special traits like Kala of the story Kala who is sleeping even while awake, or Aslam Saheb who remains busy opening many layers of philosophy in the story ‘Inqilab’ or Pappu of the same story who is afraid to learn anything new but is so impressed by a learned person that he would be willing to carry out all the menial jobs for him. Jawwad has connected a character from his story ‘Meem Sheen’ who stammers, with the mother language and our national language. Jawwad concludes that progress is like that tree that has deep roots and has high branches. The story ‘Khali Seetaan’ is symbolic to the working of a government with empty seats, a robot on the driving seat with no sense of direction. Loneliness is aptly addressed in the story ‘Geyan’ (wisdom). The stories ‘Adha Sach’ (half-truth), ‘Holi Holi’ and ‘Ghuman Ghairian’ are stories of characters that are busy in winding long ropes of thought. Thinkers drift away from their paths but always return home in the evenings.

The best part of Muhammad Jawwad’s stories is the easy language he uses unlike some of his contemporaries who deliberately use difficult vocabulary to show their superiority. He surpasses them with his themes which are strong with philosophical angles.

Ghulam Hussain Sajid observes that writing a story is not everybody’s baby. The quality is inborn; to converse and use language properly, to streamline the flow of the story etc. Barring a few, Sajid has failed to discover good story writer in Punjabi language among his seniors or juniors. In this dismal scenario Sajid found a ray of hope in Jawwad’s book Be-rangi Tei Rang. He found it to give a pleasing effect like a flute being played far away. His stories that look straight and in fact, they are not. Their one side is bright and the other side, dark. Sajid quotes lines of Munir Niazi on Jawwad’s first story ‘Panchi’ which is

‘Ik Aur Dariya Ka Samna Tha Munir Mujh Ko/Ik Aur Dariya Kei Paar Utra Tau Main Nei Daikha’ and

Akhtar ul Iman’s line ‘Kaun Sitare Choo Sakta Hei/Reh Main Saans Ukhar Jaati Hei’ (who can reach stars! One is breathless on way).

Life winds up when life is over. Jawwad’s ‘Panchi’ has to face many issues that were its own doing or by act of circumstances. They shall continue till the last breath. Jawwad’s stories therefore fall short of any end.

Muhammad Jawwad has written short stories in Urdu language as well. His first cook titled ‘Boorhi Kahani’ comprises fifteen stories,

Boorhi Kahani

Lending one’s ears to somebody is a great quality in a human being. It reminds me of the expression “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Simply it means listen to me. Well that is the quality Javed’s Mamun had in Muhammad Jawwad’s first short story namely ‘Dard’ from his short stories book ‘Boorhi Kahani’. In the story, Javed quotes many incidences where his uncle lends his ears to many people who come across him, whether it is an old man in a bus or Javed himself. Javed always felt uncomfortable when to all his woes all he got was a response in the form of a smile. His complaint is addressed when Javed’s father died and his Uncle lent him ears for a couple of hours and his silence on the other end of the phone had meant a deep understanding of his nephew’s sorrows. This brings me to the concept of friendship among old and young. While looking at the reason and benefits accrued therefrom, Anna Kudak, co-author of What Happy Women Do states “Bridging the generation gap not only increases the friend pool, but it also expands and supports mental well-being. Friendships with older and younger people help broaden your perspective, which in turn allows you to have compassion and empathy in your day-to-day life.” Perhaps that is the relationship the uncle-nephew enjoyed in the story.

The friendship however between Javed and Kamal in the story ‘Kamal’ created turmoil in Javed. Javed felt that after meeting Kamal and entering into repeated philosophical discussions with him, his inner-self had become victim of breaking. Javed felt that his job and career as a lawyer was in jeopardy. This was a strange bond that remained open ended. Perhaps this story demonstrated Jawwad’s command over philosophy, a subject he loves. Philosophy is way of life for Jawwad. He takes everything in the world from philosophical angle. He takes music as a philosophy. His short stories have philosophical angles attached to them. His short story ‘Qaid’ is a typical example where he discusses an individual’s introvert tendencies.

The story title ‘Aadat’ pertains to two issues; escape from quarrels with wife, finding refuge in library and two, generation gap. The young generation does not understand the beliefs of the older generation and the aging wife does not give congenial atmosphere to her husband to stay at home. At this age the children also side with their mothers. The third story ‘Boorhi Kahani’ is an eye opener for an old couple who did not have any off-shoots or perhaps did not try for one when young. The life passed till one fine day the husband spotted his wife taking deep breaths on the side of the footpath, perhaps tired of running household errands. He returns home, looks at mirror himself and then at his wife’s grey hair and wrinkles. It is a late realization that the couple was issueless, being an average household story but somewhere it lacks convincing and raises questions as to why realization did not occur earlier. Nowadays many medical solutions are available or the option of adoptions has resolved this problem of many couples in the world.

Gregory is the name of one of Jawwad’s stories. It reminded him as well as this reviewer of Gregory Peck of the movies “Roman Holiday” and “To kill a mocking bird”. Saleem meets a guy of this name in the Lawrence Gardens. Both have age difference, one 25 and the other 42, the latter believing in attracting opposite gender by his looks rather than vice versa. He also is in habit of borrowing money and spends his life in accepting minor roles in television dramas. After a long time when both meet again after Gregory has returned from Karachi, Saleem finds him old and he draws a parallel of a character of the famous novel Crime and Punishment with Gregory. The latter admits that he destroyed his life by deceiving others and in return deceiving himself.

Jawwad has no dearth of topics. He writes a story titled ‘Safar’ in the shape of a letter of a friend from abroad where his involvement with a girl Elizabeth who is frank and modern woman with whom it was not possible to live forever. The decision to stay or not to stay leaves him double minded. My experience abroad has been that the immigrant youngsters in 1960s and 1970s in UK had to choose between becoming part of western culture, never to return back or stick to their own culture and values and ultimately return home.

The story ‘Khana Badosh’ always reminds me of the voice of the desert Rashman who was a gypsy till late in her life when the show-biz forced her to stay more in big cities. The story is about a young man who gets attached to a house he lives in and misses it when he has to leave it because of his father’s repeated transfers to other places periodically. It is about Indians coming to Pakistan and looking for their place of birth like poet Gulzar did in Dina a few years ago.

Guzre Dinon Ka Qissa by Muhammad Jawwad

In my review on January 04, 2016 I observed “Mazda Ali in an article titled ‘Urban Stress & Mental Health’ published on November 2011, states that urban living is not only about getting older; it is also about taking more stress. Stress is the unspecific physiological and psychological reaction to perceived threats to our physical, psychological or social integrity. And urban living can be threatening if you haven’t enough space of your own. Stress increases with the anticipation of adverse situations and the fear of not having the adequate resources to respond to them. Muhammad Jawwad’s first three stories in his latest short stories’ book titled Guzre Dinon Ka Qissa published by Nigarshat Publishers, Lahore concentrates on the mental pressures of the urban way of living.

In the first story titled ‘Nai Zindigi’ an office going man is fed up of daily monotonous humbug of life and yearns all the time for a new life. The story ‘Ik Muthi Aasmaan’ revolves around Zafar who comes across his college-love Sarwat after many years. They meet. He starts feeling young again. Both realize they are not what they looked or felt like two decades ago. Zafar ends up in the lap of his wife. The story titled ‘Mulaqat’ is about Aqeel’s wife imagining her dead mother and grandmother in the house. Aqeel believed that his wife saw her dead ones only when she desired to do so. One fine day Aqeel saw his wife with a satisfied look on her face. Upon enquiring she responded that her grandmother had met her and told her that all her daily worries were part of this world.

Perhaps Jawwad knew that his best story in the book was ‘Guzre Dinon Ka Qissa’ that is why he gave this title to his collection of 29 short stories. It is a story of child-love that keeps the man alive all his life. The young girl’s touch while playing together haunts him. This plot somehow reminds me of Mahboob Khan’s movie ‘Deedaar’. An interview of Mrs. Jaffery, a beautiful widow of the deceased poet Jaffery in the story ‘Yaad Uski Itni Khoob Nahi’ (her memory is not all that good) is as hilarious as Mrs. Jaffery’s cough and laughter after narrating every anecdote of her life with her late poet-husband. All she remembered was a smile beyond agony and the ecstasy on her husband’s face during the days prior to his demise. Perhaps Jawwad has not met Shafiqa Nasir Kazmi, wife of poet Nasir Kazmi, who not only worked in the education department but also brought up her two sons wonderfully groomed into responsible educated persons of this society.

A question arises whether we need to prepare ourselves for a more urbanized and for a more depressed world? Nonetheless, considering the neuro-scientific approach to the topic of cities is essential, as from it we can start to understand how city living affects inhabitants’ brain biology and could therefore influence the risk for developing mental disorders. Jawwad’s story ‘Maya’ revolves around one such urbanite looking for his house, two decades after returning from abroad. He gets baffled when developments like the Metro Bus and underpasses have ruined his memories. He had not realized that this rapid pace of urbanization has become an important marker of the societal transition at large that had occurred since he left his country. But urban living is not only about getting older; it is also about getting stressed.

Theme of the story ‘Kutch Doston Se Guftagu’ is about an urbanite who is all the time acting on the advice of his friends to become a good citizen and by doing so ends up in a chaotic brain-situation due to too much discipline in his life and trying to look good in everybody else’s mind. Colian Ellard’s research looks at what stress does to the body? Our organism has two major hormonal stress systems, the quick responding autonomic nervous system, which controls the release of noradrenaline and adrenaline, and the somewhat slower hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical system, which is responsible for the release of cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’. Roughly speaking, the quick system prepares us to react immediately whereas the slow system’s reaction depends on the perceived danger of the situation. Jameel, a character in the story ‘Neem-classical’, a term borrowed by Jawwad who is also a classical singer, desires to keep semi-classical relationship with Suraiya that becomes a disastrous approach for him due to its non-decisive nature. The short story ‘Mubtila’ again leaves the main character confused and that of an indecisive nature because of stresses of urban life, traffic jams or even noise. The theme of the latter half of the book tilts towards spiritualism and psychology”.

Muhammad Jawwad’s close look at both modern and traditional lives and entanglements of dwellers of both rural and urban people with Philosophical obtrude is a treat to read and a hope for the art of story writing.

The writer is the recipient of the prestigious Pride of Performance award. He can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com